For more than 27 years, Angele Estoundi Essamba has been focusing her lens on African women. Wang Linyan zooms in for a look.

The women may be young or old, unadorned or made-up, standing on the street, sea or desert. They are the women of Africa, and Angele Estoundi Essamba aims her lens to capture not just the moment but the spirit of her subjects. In facial close-ups and full portraits, the Cameroon-born Dutch photographer displays the "pride, strength and awareness" of African women in her first solo exhibition in China, a showcase of her life's work, including the images show here (left and right).

"This exhibition is about African women. It is about how African women want to be seen," says Essamba at the opening ceremony of her exhibition on April 25, which runs until May 24 at Li-Space Culture and Art Center in Beijing.

Titled Black and Red Beyond Color, the show is composed of selected photos taken by Essamba since 1985. While this is her first retrospective exhibition in China, Essamba has displayed her work in Africa, Europe, South America and Asia. The photos, in color and black and white, are mostly straight on shots of the women - a directness that aims to create a kind of interaction with the viewer.

Born in Douala, Cameroon, she moved to Paris at age 10. From there, she went to the Netherlands where she trained at the Netherlands Professional School of Photography. The mother of three children, Essamba has traveled extensively from Cameroon to Columbia and from Senegal to Brazil, establishing a relationship with people so she could capture them in images from their daily lives. She has worked on some projects for over 10 years.

She takes woman as her main subject because "she is the one who carries life, transmits life and gives life".

Essamba says she wants average visitors to recognize themselves in her work. Through these private faces of Africa, she hopes the viewers can identify with "not just the skin, but also the feeling".

"This is the woman I celebrate in my world. It's the woman beyond the color," she says.

It's not the typical representation of African women, who are usually shown as objects of poverty, oppression and submission. "I want to break with the stereotype idea of the oppressed, poor women (who are) limited to tradition. I can recognize myself in the women that I picture, modern women," she says.

"I want to share my feelings with Chinese viewers. I hope my program will introduce you to another image of Africa. I hope this show will bring more openness to Africa."

Contact the writer at wanglinyan@chinadaily.com.cn.